


Original short stories

by Soulscales



Category: ADG, Rokue
Genre: Demon, Elementals, Fantasy, Gangsters, Gore, Magic, Monsters, Mutants, NYC, Other, Sci-Fi, Short Stories, Virus, angel - Freeform, dragon - Freeform, emotionals, spooky creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:14:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23258992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soulscales/pseuds/Soulscales





	1. Chapter 1

I turned around. Maybe the problem would just go away if I acted like nothing happened. Something in my gut turned my cowardly ass right back around. I shouldn't be afraid of a little girl. Ha! Tell that to the shivers running up and down my spine. I tapped my fingers on my chin and paced back and forth. The thick red carpet felt good in between my toes. I could feel her gaze on my back the entire time.

"So let's see here," I mumbled to myself. "Is she a witch?" I checked over my shoulder. Her clouded eyes tracked my every movement. "Definitely not. Too young. The last time I saw a witch was over a hundred years ago. Witchcraft takes at least ten years to learn. This young'un is barely eight." I stopped and stared at the intricate woodwork on the walls. Flowers and fruit trees, painstakingly carved into the wood with an intense amount of care made it seemed to mimic the forest. The pillars around me did little to soothe the longing ache for fresh air.

I turned heel and stared at the girl. Silky black hair fell in front of a pair of clouded and unblinking eyes. A stubborn frown instead of the usual happy smile of a child her age. There was a tiny scar just above her brow. I wondered where she got it. She was a bit creepy actually. A little girl in ragged clothes among all this finery. Just thinking about it made my wings twitch. One of her small hands was clamped around a tiny box. The crude box was made of tin and had many dents in it.

"There's a troll in here." The girl wobbled and took a step back.

"I'm not a troll!" I slapped a hand to my mouth. That response sorta just popped out without any warning. Still, I was absolutely SICK of being called a troll. I was not a troll. Related to a troll yes, but not a troll myself. My wings bunched with anger. I took in a deep breath. "I'm something else." The girl narrowed her eyes. Unease made me take a cautious step away from her. Her grip tightened on the box.

"Prove it," She said. I scowled and grabbed one of my wingtips.

"See this?" I asked and jabbed a finger into my wing. I winced in pain. Shouldn't have done that. "This is a wing." Pain made my voice soft. "Trolls don't have wings." I rubbed the tip of the wing to try and reduce the slow stinging. The familiar feeling of the moss clinging to my wings reminded me that I had to stay calm.

"You can see me, right?" I asked. The girl hesitated for a moment before nodding, messy hair falling in front of her eyes. I sighed and scratched at the back of my head. "Alright," I sounded defeated, "what's your name, kid?" She frowned again and clutched the tin box to her little chest. She straightened her shoulders and stood tall, like some kind of warrior.

"Ma told me never to talk to trolls." My temper flared. My wings twitched and I heat rose in my face.

"Not a troll," I muttered under my breath.

She tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Then what are you?" She asked.

"I'm of the fae species." I drew in a long breath, not prepared to say what came next. "You, Shay, need to come with me now. You don't belong among the humans anymore." I trotted over and knelt down in front of her. She watched me with eyes much keener than any other child I'd seen. I reached out a hand. She seemed surprised. For a moment she looked like any other little girl. Wide eyes filled with some sort of wonder and innocence. Her figure was gaunt. I frowned, she needed someone to take proper care of her.

"So," I asked, "are you coming?"

(A/n) This short story came from a writing prompt


	2. Soup Nights

"What's up?" The angel played with my hair as I cooked.   
"I could ask you the same question," I said. She huffed and let go of my hair.   
"It needs more spices," she pouted. "Bay leaf or it'll go wrong." I knew better than to question her judgement with cooking. I turned around to go to the pantry. She followed me, clinging to the back of my shirt.   
"What are you doing, Donnie?" I asked, looking at the few spices I had stored away. Little bottles with faded colors staining the glass. Most of them had been washed away during the flood.   
"I'm helping you." I turned my head to see the little angel staring at me with eyes as rich as the earth staining the floor. I held out a hand.   
"Then give me the bay leaves." She hesitated for a moment, hiding her face in the forest of messy curls that surrounded her head. After a few moments she dropped the green bottle into my hand. "You're the one that wanted bay leaves," I grunted, unscrewing the top and made my way back over to the stove.   
"I don't actually have to eat."   
"And you still try to control my cooking."   
"That's because you'll ruin it if I don't intervene, Mista." She sat on the edge of the stove and picked at a glowing arm band wrapped around her wrist.   
"You judge my skills?" I dumped two bay leaves in the soup and put the lid on the pot. Earthen aromas drifted up from under the lid.   
"Yes." She hugged herself, fuming.  
The air smelled like rain. I peeked at the sky, just past the edge of the roof. It was dark.   
"Of course. But you can't cook."   
"Mista, what's a big guy like you doing in a half destroyed house anyways?" A rain drop landed on my nose, making me blink in surprise. I turned back to see Donnie staring at me. I knew she was something other than human the moment I saw her eyes. The intelligence in them did not belong to a child, even if she acted like one occasionally. I wiped the rain off my nose and shrugged.   
"Still like home," I said, gesturing to the decimated stove. Donnie did a somersault in the air.   
"Your weird." She landed on the ceiling and settled for grinning down at me. "The soup will burn if you don't take it off the stove soon."   
"Of course." Rain started to patter on the old tin roof. Flood season was almost over. I turned off the heat on the stove and pulled out a pair of measuring cups. "Soup or no?" Donnie watched me, keen eyes twinkling in the shadows. Every step she took made the tin roof rattle. She kept walking until she stood right over me. I pulled a handkerchief out of my pocket, reached up, and wiped some of the smudges of dirt off her face. Donnie spluttered, and fell to the floor with a dull thud.   
Or she would have. I caught her instead. I could almost see the hazy outline of a pair of strange birds wings on her back. They were blurred, making a low buzzing noise as they drifted in and out of existence.   
"Careful." I wiped off another smudge of dirt on her nose before carefully setting her down. She was so small and light, like a bird. She could have me dead right where I stood if she really wanted to. I knew that much.   
She sat on the floor, slightly dazed. I sat down beside her, a measuring cup filled to the brim with hot soup in each hand. I put one cup in her hands, then took a sip of my own.   
The rain was really starting to come down. I always liked the way it did that, covering everything in this gentle layer of silence. When it in a place like this, apart from the rain, you couldn't hear anything else. Not the birds, not the frogs, and certainly not the owls.   
I took a sip of my soup, relishing the raw earthy flavors. She was right again.   
"Mmm, this is good." Already, the little angel had gotten herself messy. She had soup all over her face, clothes, and even hair. She dipped her hands into the cup, scooping out the soup, and downright licking it out of her hands. She froze when she noticed me staring. "What?" I let out a heavy sigh and shook my head. I didn't feel like disturbing the rain with the sound of my voice.   
Her voice on the other hand, like if the marsh itself had mustered up the desire to speak.

(A/n) This story belongs to ADG


	3. Troubling Tails

"Listen, I'm telling you, it's not that bad." Rizza tapped his fingers on the bar and smiled at me.   
"Like I'd ever listen to you, turtleboy." I rolled a pencil between my fingers and chewed on the head o the eraser. I saw a glint of gold and looked up. Rizza leaned over the bar, trying to sneak a peek at my sketches. His arm band caught the orange light of the bar, turning it gold.   
"That's a new vest. Dressing up for anyone particular tonight?" Rizza flushed and scrunched his nose. This vest was magenta with a red bow tie, not his usual black or blue ones.   
"Do I have to have a reason to dress up?" I shrugged. He sagged and looked down at the bar. "You haven't been listening to Howl, have you?" I chose to focus on my sketches again.   
"I try not to listen to anything that idiot has to say." Rizza pursed his lips and bobbed his head in agreement. The algae blob on his head bobbed too.   
"I mean, ninety percent of whatever comes out of his mouth is usually trash. But dang, that ten percent makes it all worth it." Rizza placed a bottle in front of me and tapped my journal with his bottle opener. "Makes you reconsider everything else he says. And speaking of percents, what brings someone like you to the Dragon tonight?" He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the bar, smiling earnestly at me. It still creeped me out to think about turtles with teeth.   
"I have a meeting with someone." I pulled my hood lower and took the bottle out of his hands.   
"Mhm, and would this meeting be in the back room?" Rizza handed another order to a tiger with a missing eye. He gave the massive mammal a respectful nod and earned a thankful growl in response. "I don't think you should go through with it."   
"What? I'm already dressed up like this," I growled, gesturing to mask on my face.   
"I'm saying that Howl is not the most trust-worthy person in the entirety of New York City." He fumbled with the scissors and muttered something not so nice about the webs between his massive fingers. I unhooked the clasp for the snout and slipped it off slightly. Fresh air filtered through. As fresh as air can be when it comes from a dirty underground bar filled with a bunch of gangsters.   
"I already let him loose on me," I said. It was supposed to be a wolf. If no one looked too close, I would be fine. equipped with a set of goggles, some gloves, a false snout, and a scarf made out of some sort of animal fur just to be sure.   
"Oh yeah! The ears are a very nice touch by the way."   
"This is one of DJ's apparently."   
"Now who exactly are you talking too in the back room?" I hesitated, unsure whether I should trust him with something like this.   
"I don't know," I admitted. Rizza dropped whatever he was holding. It shattered against the floor. He probably did that about once a night. The bar went quiet. I could feel all of their eyes burrowing into my back. The thing about an all-mutated bar is that they are very protective of their barkeep.   
A large hand grabbed my shoulder and forced me around.   
"Hey, Rizza. This guy giving you trouble?" The tiger was back, he let loose a growl deep in his throat and grabbed the bar on either side of me. He was of the Brigades , I could see that easy enough from the patch on his shoulder.   
"O-oh, don't worry about it, I do that all the time. I'm clumsy, very clumsy. It's alright," Rizza yelped. "It's alright, Anty. I just dropped it." Anty glanced up at the turtle.   
"You sure?" Anty squinted at me, leaning in to get a good look at me.   
"Oh yeah, I mean, you know how hard it is to hold stuff with these big hands of mine. Also, can you not sniff people? Some of us don't enjoy being sniffed. I remember I told you this last week."   
"Smells like a human." My stomach twisted. I pressed myself back against the bar, reaching for my pocket.   
"Everything smells like humans, have you seen the surface? It's crawling with them."   
"And possum."   
"Oh, that's the guy who was here an hour or two ago. Brought in a dead possum. I had to stash it behind the bar before anyone ate it.' The tiger licked his lips, baring his fangs. The edge of the bar pressed into my back. It was hold out or have my last night be under Times Square. They crowded around the corner, pressing against the tiger to try and get a good look at me. I fingered the latch near the edge of the snout, making sure it was in place.   
"Hey!" Rizza set something on the counter. The mutants chittered, eyes narrowed on whatever it was. Anty's ears were pinned back against his head. "You want this? Leave him alone. Stop sniffing people. Anty, you have almost started a fight at least four times in the past week. This is a neutral zone." I scrunched up my nose at the stench of whatever mass of feathers and meat Rizza handed to the tiger. Rizza banged a fist down on the bar. "THIS GOES FOR THE REST OF YOU!" he yelled, "I do not stand for fighting in my bar." The tiger dipped his head and pulled away. He stared hungrily at whatever rotten prize he had just won. But so was everyone else behind him. With food scarce, tempers were short , and everyone is a bit less reasonable.   
Anty hugged his bloody carcass thing to his chest, glaring at everyone as he made a tactful retreat to the back of the room. Lots of   
"Remember the rules," Rizza called after him. "Or you're banned." He allowed himself a solid two minutes to flail about and curse under his breath. I let out a long breath, reminding myself why I was there.   
I needed that information. Howl was getting restless again, we both were. We needed another piece to the puzzle. Now that we had both properly rested and recovered, it was time to start searching again.   
"And that is your cue to leave." Rizza's low voice startled me out of my thoughts. He rested a heavy hand my shoulder and gestured to the door.   
"I'm not leaving." I got to my feet and brushed myself off. The cursed costume was getting hot already. Rizza stared at the bar for a few seconds, a strained smile on his face. His face turned a funny shade of grey and it didn't look like he was breathing.   
"Fine. I'm not going to argue with you." He beckoned me over to the other side of the bar. "I've heard enough from everyone who knows you how stubborn you are." I ducked down and crawled under the bar. I grabbed Rizza's hand and let him lead me to the room where the next part of the mystery awaited.   
"Than-" He stopped in his steps and I barely avoided bumping into him. His shoulders were tense.   
"Don't thank me. I don't enjoy leading friends into the hands of their enemies. Last chance, don't do this," he whispered, voice wavering on the last few words. I crossed my arms.   
"Yeah. Not gonna happen." I'd thought maybe this one time I would get off without an interrogation of some sort.   
Wrong.   
He sighed and shook his head, making the patch of algae on top of his head wave around.   
"Alright, I'll let you into the back room." Fiddling with the collar around my neck proved to be a rather useless tactic to distract from the pit of dread in my stomach. We made our way to the other side of the room. No small feat when it is so crowded. I was rubbing up against all different species. If I smelled human earlier, I certainly wouldn't after that. The crowd opened for Rizza. But then they closed on him half way across the room and he got stuck between a bunny and a vulture. Anty was no where to be seen. Loose scales and pieces of oddly colored shed crunched underfoot. I hated how close they all were. Squishing my way across the main floor.   
"No, that's not what I meant. Your scales-er-feathers are very beautiful." By the time I got to the other side my feet had been stepped on several times, I had animal hair where animal hair should never be, and I smelled like a barn. Rizza was hastily explaining to himself to a vulture, making wild gestures with his hands. Relief flashed across his face when he saw me. "Oh, would you look at that, I have someone who needs my help." And with that he quickly excused himself from the conversation and got slammed against the very door we were trying to get to.   
"This is the f*cking worst," I muttered. I nudged my way past a large   
"Most of the time," a deep voice rumbled. Someone's warm breath tickled the back of my neck. "Here you go." Whoever they were, they hoisted me up by the back of my collar and lifted me over a pair of feathery figures with beady eyes. Whoever they were, they set me down next to Rizza and patted my head. When I turned around to get a glimpse of my helper, they were already swallowed up by the crowd.   
"Hey, get in!" Someone yanked on my arm, pulling me through a doorway so small I had to duck.   
"Okay," Rizza said, chest heaving. "We made it." He slammed the door when another mutant tried to make their way through. I pushed up the mask and gasped for air. This was real air. Not like whatever was behind us. I could breathe without gagging. That passageway right there made my entire day. Despite the fact that I would probably have to crouch a bit so my head didn't bump the ceiling,   
"I don't know who built these side passages, but-"   
"Gnomes." Rizza started at me, eyes round.   
"W-what?"   
"Gnomes."   
"...okay. Maybe."   
"Have fun trying to get back."   
"You know I will." he sat up and brushed himself off. "It's only getting to this door that's the hard part." He flicked a feather off my shoulder, then grinned at the annoyed smile on my face.   
"You mean you had another way to reach here?" The pain in my feet faded to a dull throb and the sour taste was starting to fade from my mouth.   
"It's a one-way shortcut, but yes." He laughed at my expression and got to his feet. "So what exactly are you doing meeting with who-knows-what for?"   
"They said they have information on the Translucent." It was more than a want then. It was a need.   
Rizza stood up too fast and slammed his head against the ceiling.   
"The Translucent?!" Rizza yelped, rubbing his head. "Are you crazy?"   
"You can answer that question for yourself." He gave me a quick glare and threw his hands.   
"Oh, great. You've officially lost it then. Fantastic." His hands hit the ceiling and he let loose another string of curses, clutching his hands to his chest. I crossed my arms and waited. I needed to know.   
"Are you done yet?"   
"Not even close, mate. What could you possibly want with the Translucent?"   
"Can't say." I needed the name that brought back all the memories. The blurs of red and black and the feeling that I was missing something very important.   
"Oh. Oh!" He knew what that meant. "Tarez is wrapped up in this too? Can't she ever let you off the hook?" Rizza pulled his fingers out of his mouth and straightened his bow tie. Instead of challenging the ceiling again, he chose to crawl around on his hands and knees to the little door at the end of the hall.   
I fastened the false snout back onto my face and adjusted everything to make it cover my face all the way before following.   
"Alright." The door at the end of the hallway was red. It looked like it was made out of blood in the low light. Rizza stopped and pulled a key out from his pocket. He was the only one who could open the door to the back room. The key to the door was made of black wood. He'd showed it to me the first time we met. And the other copies of the exact same one. He twirled the key between his fingers and sat there, thinking for a moment. From the way he watched me, I thought he was going to try to convince me of staying outside with him. He opened his mouth to say something, but a loud thud came from the door from which we came from.   
We both twisted around and flinching at the sound of the roars coming from the main room. Rizza grumbled under his breath.   
"If something happens, knock over something. Something big." As if he would be able to hear me.  
"Tiger?" I asked. He nodded.   
"Anthony, that idiot meat eater. He started another fight. Comes into my bar almost every night looking to save me from something and steal pieces of food. Pain in the ass." He swore loudly when the sound of glass breaking came from the main room accompanied by a few roars. "I need to call backup anyways, but if you need help knock something over and I can guarantee that when you come back out there will be a very concerned owl bear waiting to roar at you an-"   
"Talk later, go save the mutated bar," I said, stealing the key out of his hand and jamming it into the lock. He stared at me for a moment before grabbing my shoulder and giving it a friendly squeeze.   
"Hey, whatever happens, good luck, mate."   
I gave him a nod. Whatever was in that room, it was the next piece of the puzzle. I crawled through and heard the lock click behind me.


	4. Leaf me alone

A/n Arists: Don't steal my shit.   
writers: Hmm, I'm gonna steal your shit and make something awesome out of it   
Anyways on with the story:   
"Hey, moron, could you not eat that? It took me six moons to grow that shit and you're ruining it." I swatted at George. The mischievous little shit decided to pretend that he was like all the other plants and hide in his little pot under the table.   
"Are you alright?" Tiger scratched at the underside of his jaw and frowned at the pot.  
"No, I'm a gardener living in the middle of the desert. Of course I'm not fucking fine." In the cramped little shack that was my sorry excuse for a house. " The big bearded man barely fit in the place. He had to tilt his head so much that it looked like he had made it his life's goal to lick his elbow. I scowled. The sooner I had him out of my shack, the less of a chance the collective idiocy of the shack would go down. Sand tumbled off of his body with every move he made.  
Tiger raised his fuzzy eyebrows at my language but was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. I hated plants, but I hated people more.  
"Don't look at me like that." A vine tugged at my collar. Turning to glare at a plant with blossoms the color of the desert sky just afte the sun sets, I muttered a few quick words under my breath. "Do you fucking mind?" The plant shivered and retracted it's gangly thorny hand and hid it behind it's leaves. "Yeah, that's what I thought." I turned back around to focus my glare on the one thing that didn't belong in my shack.  
"So, what do you want?" I asked, leaning back in my chair and kicking my feet up on the table.  
"You're the one that dug me out of the sand." He rolled his shoulders and did his best to stretch out. I could see the little granules of sand falling off him. Do you know how long it takes to get sand out of a shack that is in the desert? "Would you happen to know how long It takes to get to Craysem by foot?"  
"Go ask the Blue Man. How am I supposed to know about your shitty little town?" I eyed the plants crammed into the corner behind him. The twisted metal rack stuffed with clay pots of all different shapes and sizes was trembling slightly. Fucking George would be back before long too. He didn't seem all that ruffled over my language. Just...sad. Maybe it was the way his shoulders drooped or the loss of any sort of idiotic sparkle in his eyes.  
"Don't you have a map?" He shifted and stared at something under the table. I hissed and poked my head under the table. George was out. The miniature Hibascus tree had his mouth on one of the newcomer's boots, chomping away like his life depended on it. Which it probably did. His roots scrabbled at the floor, already peeking out of the pot.  
In other words, my tree from hell was trying to chew through his boot and try to insert his roots into his veins to try and get the nutrients he needed.  
"Why the fuck would I have a map? I have literally lived in this place my entire life." I got back up and perched on the edge of the table. There was a piece of food in between my teeth and I hated it.  
"I need to get back to my family." He winced at the sight of the tree chewing on his foot. When he looked up at me I was annoyed at the desperation in his voice. "Please. I need to find my daughter." As if he expected me to magic a map out of thin air. I picked at my teeth. George could have him for all I cared.  
"Go talk to the Blue Man." I had to make a trip to the well again and mark down some notes. George would usually only go after the lizards I brought back for him. I picked at my teeth and slapped away some of the vines reaching down from the ceiling. "I may be the best gardener this fucking land has seen, but I ain't magic. And I don't have a map. So go talk to the Blue Man."  
"O-ow," The man yelled. I dived under the table and grabbed George by his pot.  
"You asshole," I spat, wrestling the tree away from him. He fought hard. Probably due to the rivulets of blood seeping out of the gash in Tiger's shoe. Sharp little teeth gnawed at my hands. George opened the surprisingly large mouth in his trunk and went at me. "Oh, OH, you want to do this now? Get horny off of someone else's blood and then go at anyone who has blood? This is what you get for drinking someone's blood!" I hissed and cursed as I tried to keep my arms around the trunk of the little tree. The bark scratched at my hands. He started to drag me across the wooden floor. "Oh no you don't, little shit." I managed to wrap one of my legs around one of the table legs. With blood soaking into the floor, a newcomer, and George being a bit more of an asshole than usual, the other plants were becoming agitated.   
"Do you need some help?"  
"NO! And shut up!" I roared at Tiger. I grabbed George by the branches and slapped his roots until they retracted into the bottom of the pot. I let out a long sigh. When I returned to the land of above-the-table, the other plants were already trying to get their gritty little roots on him.  
I slammed George down on the table and wiped some of the sweat off my brow. "And that goes for the rest of you," I snarled, turning around in a circle and glaring at every single one of my plants. This is why I'm the best. The plants all returned to normal at the sound of my voice. This was the shit I had to deal with every single day of my life.  
I huffed and pushed my hair out of my face. "I don't have a fucking map. Now get out of my place. and leaf- I mean leave me alone before I feed you to my plants." 

A/n Yes, they swear a lot. that was specific to this character. Also, welcome to Rokue.


End file.
